Dandelions sharply divide gardeners into two groups. While some see beauty in green springtime grass spangled with pure gold, and anticipate delicious green spring salads and the bottling of golden dandelion flower wine, others see an enemy to be battled with everything in the gardener’s arsenal. The Pollyannas among us are right. Dandelions are wonderful!

Perhaps the best definition for a weed is ‘ a plant for which a use has not yet been found’. Yet dandelions have so many uses, and they are still derided as weeds. In part, that is because every yellow headed thistle is often called a dandelion. True dandelions Taraxacum officinalis are perennial plants with a thick, fleshy, deep taproot, and a basal rosette of coarsely toothed leaves from which directly emerge many unbranched flower stalks each terminating in a very double, clear golden, sweetly scented bloom. The flower heads turn into round balls of fluffy seeds, once used by country children to tell the time by the singularly and conveniently inaccurate method of counting the number of seeds left after blowing on the dandelion ‘clocks’. Seed eating small birds have their own use for the reliable supplies of fluffy seed heads. All other golden thistles for which dandelions might be mistaken have branched flower stems. The common name of dandelion comes from the French dent de lion meaning ‘lion’s tooth’ referring to the jagged shape of their leaves.

Perhaps if we viewed our lawns, not as gardeners of the Victorian era did with their love of an endless emerald monoculture, but as gardeners in medieval times did, as a soft green sward bespangled with tiny flowers, we would come to see the dandelion in its true beauty. The American comic strip character ‘Marvin’ put it perfectly when after surveying a golden clump he pronounced, “ Dandelions are Nature’s way of giving dignity to weeds”.

The flowers bloom for much of the year and are rich in nectar and pollen. More than 90 different insects including the honey bee visit the golden flowers for food. The flower heads can also make a potent and delicious country wine. It was traditionally made on St George’s Day, 23rd April, in Europe, and early spring would be our equivalent. The flower heads contain vitamin A and riboflavin, as well as a substance helenin.

The leaves were traditionally harvested in Europe and Scandinavia as precious fresh spring greens which were doubly welcome after the long winter diet of preserved foods that often resulted in marginal scurvy. The leaves are rich in vitamins A and C as well as niacin and potassium. Wilted spring greens are still a favourite dish in countries like France, even though fresh food is now fairly readily available in most countries with long cold winters. The young leaves of the dandelion are used, fresh and tender, with only a slight bitter edge to their taste. Later in the season, rosettes of leaves are drawn up into a bunch held together with a rubber band or raffia, and the leaves blanched for a few days by excluding sunlight, to remove any excess bitterness. The leaves are washed, patted dry, torn into pieces, and placed in a bowl. Other greens can be added. They are tossed with a delicious hot dressing which slightly wilts the greens. The rind is removed from a couple of rashes of bacon which are then thinly sliced and gently cooked in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. When the bacon is crisp, two tablespoons of white wine vinegar or cider vinegar are added, and a dessertspoon of raw sugar. Continue to simmer until the mixture is slightly syrupy, pour over the greens while still hot, toss, and serve immediiately. It is irresistably good. The same recipe with only the slightest variations is common to many European and Scandinavian countries. The leaves are also simmered in a little butter, or in olive oil with a squeeze of lemon juice in southern European countries, and served as a cooked green. The slight bitterness is considered to stimulate the digestive system, and to act as a blood purifier. The leaves also increase urine flow and are considered to be useful in stimulating the kidneys by many herbalists. The French did not nickname the plant ‘piss en lit’ ( wet the bed) for nothing!

The thick roots of the dandelion make an excellent coffee substitute, often sold in health food stores as caffeine-free dandelion coffee. It is prepared in the same way as its near relative chicory. The roots are thoroughly washed, then sliced and dried, before roasting. It is then ground and prepared in the same way as filter coffee. The roots are considered to be an effective diuretic, and have been used in the treatment of gout, rheumatism, and constipation by herbal healers.

The dandelion finds a number of other uses. For craftworkers, the root makes a wonderfully rich magenta dye for wool. The flowers are boiled with rainwater or springwater, the water strained off, and when cool is used as a cosmetic wash. Many swear by the use of the white milky latex from the broken stem rubbed gently over warts, and declare that the warts disappeared within a day or two.

If you really find no use for your dandelions, at least use a garden fork to dig the roots up. They explore deep into the soil, and the roots and shoots add rich amounts of mineral nutrients to your compost heap. Or prepare green herbal liquid fertilisers with dandelions. These ‘manure teas’ are made by chopping up nutrient rich plants such as washed seaweed collected on the beach, comfrey leaves, nettles, tansy, and yarrow, together with dandelions, and immersing them into a large container of water, allowing them to rot down for a week or two. The water will turn the shade of tea and be rich in dissolved nutrients that can then be applied directly to plants as a liquid foliar feed which really improves growth and plant health. The residue of the manure tea batch can be regularly supplemented with extra water and plant material, rather like a family winter soup pot, so that a continuous supply of liquid fertiliser is at hand.

Dandelions deserve much better than to be the victim of chemical warfare in the garden. In fact you may begin growing your own in the vegetable garden ( just harvest the flowers before they seed ) or begging your neighbour to start tossing plants over the fence once you have sampled just some of this golden lion’s virtues.